The Catalan leather cluster is one of the 27 clusters accredited by the Generalitat de Catalunya

On Thursday 10 July, Leather Cluster Barcelona, represented by its project managers Carla Vélez and Jonatan Cuadrado, took part in the 13th Strategic Immersion for cluster teams organised by ACCIÓ, the public agency for the competitiveness of Catalan companies. The working session, which brought together members of the 27 Catalan clusters at the Heretat Oller del Mas in Manresa, was aimed at sharing knowledge, vision for the future and cluster ecosystem challenges in order to boost the competitiveness of Catalan companies. Catalonia’s 27 clusters bring together more than 3,000 companies and account for 36% of the country’s industrial turnover.

The event opened with an institutional welcome from Joan Martí Estévez, director of Business Strategy at ACCIÓ, who shared this year’s priorities in terms of business growth and shared value.

This was followed by an interactive session, “Co-creating inter-cluster solutions”, led by Alfons Cornella of the Institute of Next by Infonomia, focused on generating synergies and shared solutions between clusters.

After a coffee break, the day continued with parallel sessions addressing specific challenges according to the profile of the participants. On the one hand, Jordi Molla, psychologist, coach and trainer, led the panel on team leadership, “Liderar, ARA!”, aimed particularly at cluster managers, in which tools for strengthening the role of the leader in changing contexts were discussed.

In parallel, Albert Giralt, of Avinent, and Marissa Costa, of Tous, shared in another panel moderated by Anna Monjo (ACCIÓ) the “Competitiveness model of leading companies”. This was a working space aimed at project managers in which the speakers set out their models for enhancing competitiveness through project management and strategic vision, providing practical examples from two benchmark companies.

To close the day, a space was opened for collective reflection on the future challenges of the Catalan cluster model, seeking to identify common priorities and possible avenues of cooperation.

Leather Cluster Barcelona is an environment of competitive cooperation for promoting cross-cutting and transformative strategic projects with the aim of driving forward the ecosystem of the Catalan leather sector within the framework of Shared Value policies. The cluster is an accredited body within the Catalonia Clusters programme and has the support of Acció.